Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Baylor on October 10, 2025 at 2 p.m. (MST)
M Basketball
2 p.m. (MST)
at Baylor
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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Thursday, December 19
Phoenix, Ariz.
7 p.m.
Grand Canyon
7-4,0-0WAC
74
vs
51
Chicago State
0-13,0-0NEC
1
2
F
Chicago St.
20
31
51
Grand Canyon
40
34
74
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Defense, Wur's career night power win
12/19/2024 11:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Paul Coro
Lopes hold Cougars to 37% shooting with 25 turnovers
The feeling of where Grand Canyon expects to be this season could not be restored all at once following two losses.
The Lopes began piecing together the puzzle Thursday night with a 74-51 victory against Chicago State at Global Credit Union Arena, where team defense and a career night by graduate forward Lök Wur were enough to progress GCU (7-4) toward Sunday's 2 p.m. home matchup with Saint Louis.
Wur scored a career-high 20 points and blocked two shots in 26 minutes off the bench, where he was joined for the first time in two seasons by graduate forward Tyon Grant-Foster and senior guard Collin Moore.
After a two-loss road trip to Georgia (10-1) and Louisiana Tech (10-2), GCU head coach Bryce Drew shook up the starting lineup Thursday night by replacing Grant-Foster and Moore with sophomore guards Caleb Shaw and Makaih Williams.
Grant-Foster and Moore quickly entered and logged normal minutes, contributing to a Lopes defense that held Chicago State to 32% shooting with 15 turnovers in the first half. The Lopes led 40-20 at halftime with Wur scoring the final seven points of an 11-0 run that broke open the game and the first 3 on a 7-0, half-ending run.
Wur, a 6-foot-9 forward, has four consecutive double-digit scoring games for the first time in his career, which included three years at Oregon before joining GCU for last season. He is averaging 14.3 points and shooting 62.5% on 3-pointers (10 for 16) during the same four-game stretch that the Lopes have shot less than 30% on 3s each game. His teammates have made 18% of 3s over those four games.
"Lök's just been fantastic," Drew said. "Lök's played great our last two games, and he was excellent tonight. He's just so active with some blocks, getting some steals and he's just shooting the ball at a really high level right now."
Wur gave the Lopes their largest lead at 56-29 in the second half when he slammed on a fastbreak play while being fouled for a 3-point play and drew another foul for two free throws on the next time. His previous scoring high was 16 in last season WAC Tournament championship game against UT Arlington, the defining cap to a remarkable in-season turnaround that saw Wur average 11 points off the bench in the final 12 games.
"I put a lot of work into it," Wur said. "When I came here, I was very, very raw. I just needed some development. I stayed in the gym, trusted our coaches and stayed with it. Luckily, fortunately, we've got a good team here and good coaches. So they believed in me, which is part of it. Just staying in the gym, putting in the work and trusting my game."
The role changes prompted Shaw to continue his strong play in his first GCU start and second career start. He scored 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting, making him 16 for 24 (67%) from the field in the past four games with an 11.3 scoring average.
Grant-Foster's reserve role did not end his shooting slump, missing all three 3-point shots to make him 1 for 28 on 3s in the past six games. He went 4 for 6 inside the arc and got to the free throw line twice for 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and made two blocks but also committed four turnovers.
"He was much better getting to the rim," Drew said. "He missed a couple of 3s early and we talked. We were like, 'Get the ball to the rim.' He did a good job not settling and probing and getting in there. I thought he made some good passes."
In addition to its turnovers, Chicago State also set a GCU opponent extreme low for shooting by a Division I opponent at 37%. Drew played freshmen Austin Maurer (five minutes) and Sammie Yeanay (three minutes), but freshman point guard Styles Phipps was out after injuring his left hand when it was kicked in the loss at Louisiana Tech.
"I thought our defense was much better," Drew said. "I was happy with our defensive effort. I thought we had a bad stretch from the five-minute to the 10-minute mark of the second half. But for the most part, besides that, I thought we defended them very well."
After a dominant first half, Chicago State (0-13) played GCU nearly even in the second half. The Lopes outscored the Cougars 34-31, missing out on a larger cushion with 14-for-25 free throw shooting. The Lopes had been shooting 74% from the free throw line until hitting 57% over the past two games.
GCU led 65-39 with 9:33 to go but made one shot, a follow by junior center Duke Brennan, over nearly six minutes to keep the margin from growing. Brennan grabbed seven rebounds to go with nine points, but senior forward JaKobe Coles was the game's rebounding leader with nine. He scored a season-low six points, his second single-digit scoring game in the past three games after scoring in double digits for each of the first nine games.
"After that road trip, we felt like we should have got those games," Wur said. "It felt really good to get back in the win column tonight.
"Coach is just trying to do what he can to put us in the best position to win. We learned a lot from this past trip, and we worked on some things in practice. It showed tonight."
GCU has a shorter turnaround than normal with a 2 p.m. game Sunday against Saint Louis (6-5), which was considered an Atlantic 10 title contender in the preseason.
The Lopes began piecing together the puzzle Thursday night with a 74-51 victory against Chicago State at Global Credit Union Arena, where team defense and a career night by graduate forward Lök Wur were enough to progress GCU (7-4) toward Sunday's 2 p.m. home matchup with Saint Louis.
Wur scored a career-high 20 points and blocked two shots in 26 minutes off the bench, where he was joined for the first time in two seasons by graduate forward Tyon Grant-Foster and senior guard Collin Moore.
After a two-loss road trip to Georgia (10-1) and Louisiana Tech (10-2), GCU head coach Bryce Drew shook up the starting lineup Thursday night by replacing Grant-Foster and Moore with sophomore guards Caleb Shaw and Makaih Williams.
Grant-Foster and Moore quickly entered and logged normal minutes, contributing to a Lopes defense that held Chicago State to 32% shooting with 15 turnovers in the first half. The Lopes led 40-20 at halftime with Wur scoring the final seven points of an 11-0 run that broke open the game and the first 3 on a 7-0, half-ending run.Wur, a 6-foot-9 forward, has four consecutive double-digit scoring games for the first time in his career, which included three years at Oregon before joining GCU for last season. He is averaging 14.3 points and shooting 62.5% on 3-pointers (10 for 16) during the same four-game stretch that the Lopes have shot less than 30% on 3s each game. His teammates have made 18% of 3s over those four games.
"Lök's just been fantastic," Drew said. "Lök's played great our last two games, and he was excellent tonight. He's just so active with some blocks, getting some steals and he's just shooting the ball at a really high level right now."
Wur gave the Lopes their largest lead at 56-29 in the second half when he slammed on a fastbreak play while being fouled for a 3-point play and drew another foul for two free throws on the next time. His previous scoring high was 16 in last season WAC Tournament championship game against UT Arlington, the defining cap to a remarkable in-season turnaround that saw Wur average 11 points off the bench in the final 12 games.
"I put a lot of work into it," Wur said. "When I came here, I was very, very raw. I just needed some development. I stayed in the gym, trusted our coaches and stayed with it. Luckily, fortunately, we've got a good team here and good coaches. So they believed in me, which is part of it. Just staying in the gym, putting in the work and trusting my game."
The role changes prompted Shaw to continue his strong play in his first GCU start and second career start. He scored 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting, making him 16 for 24 (67%) from the field in the past four games with an 11.3 scoring average.
Grant-Foster's reserve role did not end his shooting slump, missing all three 3-point shots to make him 1 for 28 on 3s in the past six games. He went 4 for 6 inside the arc and got to the free throw line twice for 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and made two blocks but also committed four turnovers."He was much better getting to the rim," Drew said. "He missed a couple of 3s early and we talked. We were like, 'Get the ball to the rim.' He did a good job not settling and probing and getting in there. I thought he made some good passes."
In addition to its turnovers, Chicago State also set a GCU opponent extreme low for shooting by a Division I opponent at 37%. Drew played freshmen Austin Maurer (five minutes) and Sammie Yeanay (three minutes), but freshman point guard Styles Phipps was out after injuring his left hand when it was kicked in the loss at Louisiana Tech.
"I thought our defense was much better," Drew said. "I was happy with our defensive effort. I thought we had a bad stretch from the five-minute to the 10-minute mark of the second half. But for the most part, besides that, I thought we defended them very well."
After a dominant first half, Chicago State (0-13) played GCU nearly even in the second half. The Lopes outscored the Cougars 34-31, missing out on a larger cushion with 14-for-25 free throw shooting. The Lopes had been shooting 74% from the free throw line until hitting 57% over the past two games.
GCU led 65-39 with 9:33 to go but made one shot, a follow by junior center Duke Brennan, over nearly six minutes to keep the margin from growing. Brennan grabbed seven rebounds to go with nine points, but senior forward JaKobe Coles was the game's rebounding leader with nine. He scored a season-low six points, his second single-digit scoring game in the past three games after scoring in double digits for each of the first nine games."After that road trip, we felt like we should have got those games," Wur said. "It felt really good to get back in the win column tonight.
"Coach is just trying to do what he can to put us in the best position to win. We learned a lot from this past trip, and we worked on some things in practice. It showed tonight."
GCU has a shorter turnaround than normal with a 2 p.m. game Sunday against Saint Louis (6-5), which was considered an Atlantic 10 title contender in the preseason.
Team Stats
CSU
GCU
FG%
.370
.509
3FG%
.300
.235
FT%
.500
.560
RB
30
40
TO
25
18
STL
8
14
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
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